the NeoPixel rings as shown in Figure 7. I glued the single
NeoPixel to the tree’s star as well. I should note that the
center hole of each tree section is slightly smaller than the

6 mm support tube. I used a reamer to carefully enlarge
each hole to allow them to slide down the tube into
position.

The tree is built from the base up. I started by fitting
parts X, Y, and Z together which make up the tree’s
support structure. I used a small file to
slightly taper the tabs so they would
fit into the round disk X. With that
done, I glued the round disk to the
top of the flex box, and then glued
parts Y and Z to the disk. I inserted
the support tube into this assembly to
keep the parts correctly aligned while
the glue dried.

Once dried, I drilled a small hole
in what will be the back of the tree
(Figure 8) for the three wires that
connect the NodeMCU module in the
base to the large NeoPixel ring which
makes up the first tier of the tree.
Within the base, I glued the
NodeMCU module in place, and then
wired up the electronics as shown in
Figure 9. With that done, I
reassembled the flex box base so it
could support the tree as it was being
built.

The tiers of the tree are separated using laser cut
spacers “a” and “b,” where the a spacers have a slightly
larger outside diameter than the b spacers. I used a
spacers towards the bottom of the tree and b spacers
towards the top. I used five spacers between the base and
the first tier; seven between the first and second tiers;
seven between the second and third tiers; six between the
third and fourth tiers; five between the fourth and fifth
tiers; and another five between the fifth tier and the star.

I covered the spacers and wires between the tiers of
the tree with heat shrink tubing because it is important to
hide the wires as much as possible. Figure 10 shows this
in detail. The spacers had to be reamed so they would fit